tipitakafandomcom-20200215-history
Thera 10.7: Kappa
Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Theragatha >> Thera(239):Kappa Adapted from the Archaic Translation by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids. Note: 'C' in Pali text is pronounced as 'ch' as in 'China'. ---- Chapter X. Ten Verses =239. Kappa= Reborn before the manifestation of our Exalted One(Buddha) at Sāvatthī, in a brahmin(priest) family from Udicca,1 he grew up an expert in the Vedas and an unrivalled orator. Now our Exalted One, having arisen and started the rolling of the wheel of the Path(Dhamma), after Yasa and his friends became disciples,2 came on to Sāvatthī at the urgent request of Anāthapiṇḍika. Gotama the brahmin(priest) saw and heard him, and asked for initiation into monkhood. Initiated by a bhikkhu(monk) at the Lord(Buddha)'s teaching, he attained arahantship(enlightenment) even as his hair was being shaved. After a long residence in the Kosala country, he returned to Sāvatthī. And many of his relations, eminent brahmins(priests) , waited upon him and asked him which, of the many books3 as guides to life that were current, he judged should be followed. He addressed them thus: ---- 587 Vijāneyya sakaɱ atthaɱ avalokeyyātha pāvacanaɱ,|| Yañcettha assa patirūpaɱ sāmaññaɱ ajjhapagatassa.|| || 588 Mittaɱ idha ca kalyāṇaɱ sikkhā vipulaɱ samādānaɱ,|| Sussūsā ca garūnaɱ etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpaɱ, || || 589 Buddhesu ca sagāravatā dhamme apaciti yathābhūtaɱ,|| Saŋghe ca cittīkāro etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpaɱ.|| || 590 Ācāragocare yutto ājīvo sodhito agārayho,|| Cttassa ca saṇṭhapanaɱ etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpaɱ.|| || 591 Cārittaɱ atha mārittaɱ iriyāpathiyaɱ pasādaniyaɱ,|| Adhicitte ca āyogo etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpaɱ.|| || 592 Āraññakāni senāsanāni pantāni appasaddāni,|| Bhajitabbāni muninā etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpaɱ.|| || 593 Sīlaɱ ca bāhusaccañca dhammānaɱ pavicayo yathābhūtaɱ,|| Saccānaɱ abhisamayo etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpaɱ.|| || 594 Bhāvaye ca aniccanti anattasaññaɱ asubhasaññaɱ ca,|| Lokamhi ca anabhiratiɱ etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpaɱ.|| || 595 Bhaveyya ca bojjhaŋge iddhipādāni indriyāni balāni,|| Aṭṭhaŋgamaggamariyaɱ etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpaɱ.|| || 596 Taṇhaɱ pajaheyya muni samūlake āsave padāleyya,|| Vihareyya vippamutto etaɱ samaṇassa patirūpan' ti.|| || ---- 587 Let the monk discern his own real good, And let him well consider all the Word He hears (what is) preached, and what in that means The holy life(celibacy) path to which he has come. 588 Religious friendships in the Rule, a course Of ample training, and the wish to hear Men fit to teach: - this the monk follows. 589 For Buddhas reverence; towards the Path(Dhamma) Honour sincere; for the Fraternity Care and esteem: - this the monk follows. 590 Of decorous habit and in living pure, In conduct blameless, and the intelligence 265 Adjusted well: - this the monk follows. 591 In what he does and what he leaves undone Using deportment that did favour find; To higher training of the heart and mind Fervently given: - this the monk follows. 592 Places of the forest, lone, remote, where sounds May hardly come, among these the earnest sage Should make his choice: - this the monk follows. 593 And virtue, and much learning, and research To know how in themselves things really are, Grasp of the Truths: - this the monk follows. 594 To meditate upon the Impermanence, And on the absence of all self, and on The sorrow, and in the world to find no charm To bind the heart: - this the monk follows. 595 To meditate on Wisdom's seven arms, On paths to mystical potency, on (magical) powers And forces five, and on the eightfold Path, The Ariyan4: - this the monk follows. 596 Let the true sage put Craving far away; Let him uproot and crush the Intoxicants(defilements/desires); Let him live Free: - this the monk follows. ---- Thus the Thera(Elder Monk), in praising the course suitable to a monk, magnified the efficiency of his Monk’s order, and in oppposite the ineffectivness of a monk not of it. Then those brahmins(priests) , mightily approving of the Rule(path of Buddha), were established in the precepts and so forth. ---- 1 A north-western district. Cf. p. 79, n. 2 See above, CXVII.; Bud. Birth Stories, p. 130. 3 Lit., purity-doctrines (suddhivādā)or teachings. It would appear from Ang., iii. 277 (cf. Dialogues, i. 220), that among such doctrinaires were those called Gotamakas, or Gotamists. Apparently none of the three Theras called Gotama (CXXIX., CLXXXIII., and above) was this doctrinaire. In the Cy. he is termed 'Another' (Apara-) Gotama. 4 Cf. 'Ariyan' conveyed to Buddhists much what our 'Christian' does to us. Originally a racial term, it had come to mean 'noble, gentle,' and specifically, a saintly 'confessor' of the Dhamma. These subjects are the thirty-seven bodhipakkhiyā dhamma, or Factors of Enlightenment, less the four Onsets of Mindfulness (verses 166, 352) and the four Supreme Efforts. See Compendium, p. 179 f. ----